An unconventional family
by Endymion MkIII
Summary: The Chocolate Factory tends to leave Semiramis tired, from all the work it's turning out to be. Yet whenever she sees him around she knows it's worth it. Even if the little girl clings to him most of the time.
1. An unconventional family

I know I've been out for a while, if any of my subscribers reads this. I guess life has been very busy so it's been for a good reason. Been playing a lot of Fate Grand Order for that while so I had this very little snippet's idea and I felt the need to put it down and share it.

I still intend to finish "A Streak of Crimson" someday, but I hope you enjoy this Amakusa/Semiramis centric story with a dash of Jeanne Lily in the meantime. And if you'd like, I'd love to hear your thoughts about it, via review or PM.

* * *

 **An unconventional family**

As the day turned into the night at the Hanging-Gardens-turned-to-Chocolate-Factory, Semiramis found herself doing the rounds to close up shop for the day. Sending off the little Paracelsus...es (Paracelsi? She wondered), listening to the Lancer crew's report, asking Lady Blavatsky to stop Edison and Tesla from going off the rails with their "innovations" and many other tasks. It was tough sometimes but also worth it, for her goal was one she had to achieve, no matter what...

And speaking of goals she saw him. With his seemingly permanent smile and youthful looks locked in a pleased expression, he was simply sitting. He was garbed in his japanese-style clothes, that getup on brown, black and red with the stylish cravat, his long silver hair done in a ponytail and she found herself unable to take her eyes off him until she caught herself. Her face quickly catching on crimson she shook her head and chastised such unbecoming behavior from a Queen. And as she calmed down she saw...her.

She couldn't even bring herself to hate the child, even as she always demanded so much attention from Shirou. Seeing little Jeanne resting with her head reclined on his chest while sitting on his lap was a common occurence. She recalled the first time she saw her, her blood froze from seeing the Maid of Orleans' face with the Shimabara Saint's silver locks and she dreaded the worst, until they explained to her how the little Jeanne had come to be. She would later that day reflect on the ridiculousness of two Heroic Spirits having a child, yet his part on keeping the girl into existance made it feel like he was the closest thing to a father for her.

So embroiled into her thoughts she was that she didn't notice the humming that came from him, some sort of japanese lullaby she surmised. And then as she had just noticed, he suddenly stopped.

"If someone finds you staring they might get the wrong idea, you know?" He said without turning to look at her, tenderly moving a stray fleck of hair from the young child's face.

Deciding to keep whatever dignity she had left, she started walking towards him and quipped back. "You seemed so peaceful I didn't want to break your moment." She said as she sat next to him.

"I appreciate your consideration, then." He finally turned to look at her. "Done for the day?"

"Just so." She confirmed. "Rather early for her to be tired, I'd think?"

"She was running around with her friends the whole day. I suppose chocolate can only fuel a child for so long."

She looked at them both as he looked back at the child, prompted by her sleepy fussing over not having Shirou's calming hand on her back. "Who would've thought you'd be taking care of the pocket version of Jeanne d'Arc? I must ask, whatever made you take her under your wing?"

"I was able to help her so I did. Simple as that." He replied matter-of-factly. And before she made some other quip, he continued. "I didn't expect to care for her this much either, yet here we are." He rubbed the little girl's back to soothe her rest. "Honestly, there's a part of me that wonders if I'm trying to have her become my morality chain."

"You mean she isn't yet?" He chuckled. She hated how much she liked that chuckle.  
"I hope she can make me come to my senses when I end up betraying our master." He left the sentence hanging in the air, allowing her to think on it.  
"I still haven't changed, Semiramis." He said in resignation. "I already tried once since I arrived here, a chance at my goal when a Grail appeared and it seemed I could grab it."

"What makes you think she'll make you stop?"

"Hope."

"You need to stop hanging around Dantés." She quipped again. He chuckled again. They stayed in silence for a while, listening to Jeanne's breathing.

"You care about Master that much?"

"I do."

Another long silence. She looked at Jeanne and thought it sad if that was the only reason.

"I'll make you come to reason, too." She whispered to herself.

"What was that?"

Her eyes went wide as saucers once she realized she had actually said such a thing. "N-nothing! I'm merely thinking out loud!" She passed her hand through her hair, to seem non-chalant. He smiled.

"Teacher..." little Jeanne suddenly said, as she groggily opened her eyes. "What time is it?"

He tenderly scratched her head. "It just turned to night half an hour ago."

"Hmmm." She nodded, then noticed the woman. "Semiramis is here, too." She smiled, still half asleep.

"Hey there." Semiramis greeted. "Had a rough day?"

"It was a fun one." She replied as she snuggled into Amakusa again. "We played all day." She closed her eyes. "Will you play with us tomorrow?"

The request left her flabbergasted for a moment, then she smiled warmly at the girl. She could understand whenever they talked, and knew that the morality chain part was not the only reason Shirou loved the child. "I'll make some time, yes."

Jeanne smiled as she fell asleep again. "I like it when you're around." She meant them both, and somehow the two of them understood that.

That was probably the day Semiramis decided she'd like to stick around with both Shirou and Jeanne Lily.


	2. The Teenaged Queen

Welp, I guess I decided this will be a multi-part story after all, although I don't think I will write that many chapters. Maybe one or two more at most. So here we go, inspiration strikes so here's chapter two.

* * *

 **The teenaged Queen  
**

In a pleasant afternoon of late spring, Semiramis leisurely walked towards her play date appointment with the "terrible trio", as she liked to call Jeanne Lily, Nursery Rhyme and Jack the Ripper. When little Jeanne was by herself, she was the perfect image of a smart, dutiful and obedient girl, ruled in equal parts by logic and childish innocence. Yet when the kid was around her two best friends, she became a little hellion, no doubt by the influence of the two more chaotically inclined girls. Hence she called them the "terrible trio".  
She would never admit that she smiled when she looked at the three playing when no one was watching.

And so she kept walking through the halls of Chaldeas when she suddenly saw a scene that made her stop and hide behind a corner. Shirou was talking with the elder Jeanne, the one more lawfully inclined, not the dark one. And they were engaged in such lively conversation that she decided to hide and see instead of being a proper adult and greeting them. She saw Jeanne chuckling in her maidenly way at something Shirou had said and she somehow felt her face heat up in...

"I was wondering where you were w-" a young voice she perfectly knew shocked her out of her stalking and she reacted faster than she could think, covering young Jeanne's mouth with her hands. For a split second she panicked and looked down to see if her hand ornaments had injured the girl, but then remembered she had started leaving the more elaborate parts of her servant regalia behind whenever she wasn't in battle, precisely because of the kid she had grown to like. Servant or not, she would rather not hurt little Jeanne in any way.

Yet Jeanne still grabbed the hand covering her mouth and trashed around to release herself from Semiramis' hold. As the Queen relaxed her grip, Jeanne managed to gain her freedom back and whispered "What was that for?!", a little peeved.

"Just keep quiet!" Semiramis whispered back and resumed her ill-adviced stalking. When she turned back to see what were Shirou and the elder Jeanne doing, she couldn't find then anywhere.  
And as she walked into the hallway the Ruler pair were in just a moment ago, a hand on her shoulder made her jump on her spot in surprise.

"What a coincidence to find you here, Semiramis! I thought you were hanging out with the girls? Or so Lily told me before..." Amakusa greeted her, then placed his index finger to his lips wondering if perhaps he had heard wrong from little Jeanne earlier that morning.  
"We were supposed to but then Semiramis wouldn't show up, so I went looking for her! Then I found her here app-" For the second time that day Semiramis covered Lily's mouth, to stop the girl from spilling the beans. And again Jeanne trashed around to release herself.  
"Why yes, that was the plan but it seems I got myself lost around these halls. It hasn't ben that long since I joined Chaldeas so I sometimes need to gather my bearings to get to my destination, you see! Haha!" Semiramis nervously lied as she wondered what had possessed her to act like a teenager, despite deep down inside knowing exactly why she did.  
"Stop that!" Jeanne finally gained her freedom again and slapped Semiramis lightly on her arm, which gained her a muffled "ow..." from the woman.  
"Ah, I see. Well hopefully you manage to learn the lay of the land before long. I was just going to head over to the four of you myself, to see if perhaps you needed refreshments but I suppose we can all go together instead. Shall we?"  
"Yeah! Jack and Nursery have been waiting for a while now and I fear they might be planning some mischief since I'm not around. I have to temper those two, you know?" Jeanne grabbed both Amakusa and Semiramis' hands and started walking.  
"Very well," Semiramis regained some of her composure, "while a Queen can arrive fashionably late it wouldn't do to release hell into Chaldeas from my neglecting the terrible trio."  
"We're not that bad!" Jeanne complained.  
"You sometimes kind of are, Jeanne." Semiramis retorted.  
"Oh, Mr. Hans will live through it next time as well. It's his fault for making Nursery cry."  
"Now now, Jeanne. Remember what I told you about being proper? If anyone can keep those two in check it's you." Amakusa softly chastised the little saint.  
"Fiiiine..." She conceded.

"So...what were you up to before you found us, Shirou?" Semiramis asked as non-chalantly as she could while Lily jumped a bit still holding their hands.  
"Oh, I was talking with the older Jeanne." Amakusa replied matter-of-factly.  
"I see." Semiramis reflected that it couldn't have been anything important if he admitted it so easily. Unless he didn't think of themselves as she did.

She did reflect that as much as she wanted, she hadn't made any true effort to make them become something more than friends. Were they even friends? What were they, she wondered? As far as she knew, he probably thought she just liked hanging around with Lily and that was why she was here. And while she did like Lily and did enjoy spending time with her, there was no reason to think anything further. Yet from what she knew about Shirou it was unthinkable that he would pursue a relationship with the older Maid of Orleans.  
Or would he? Chaldeas was a rather different enviroment. What they were doing as soon as they met with the other two girls was also unthinkable in normal circumstances. Why, so it was unthinkable that she'd be holding hands with a younger version of Jeanne D'Arc as she was right that moment!

And as she kept stewing in her thoughts, his voice made her come back to reality. "So can I count on you, Semiramis?"  
"Oh? Oh, certainly, I'd be happy to!" She replied without quite thinking.  
"Excellent. I was worried the elder Jeanne would not be enough chaperone for Lily's all-girl's night. Having you both take care of the little ones will allow me to relax. And thanks for providing the room for the sleepover." He smiled warmly at her.  
"Yeah! Bunyan is still getting used to her small form so I wanted to have her play with us! And Illya is usually so reserved and private I'm glad she finally accepted coming! You being around will make my plans be a success!" Lily grinned happily at Semiramis as she kept sinking in what the Assyrian Queen had just agreed to do.

"...yes that'll be quite the fun night." She finally claimed in resignation.

* * *

And with that, we finish chapter two. Leave a comment or send a PM if you liked it! See you around!


	3. Foreigners stick together

I felt inspiration strike me, in celebration of Hokusai's impending release on NA, so I wrote a short story of Oei warming up to Abigail. I guess this is a unit of two sisters and a pet octopus dad, so they're another...Unconventional Family. Hope you enjoy it!

* * *

 **Foreigners stick together**

The kid would always bother her whenever she was trying to work on her art. From the moment she arrived at Chaldea, after her Master showed her and Pops around, then finally got assigned a room, a blonde young girl would be easy to spot on the corner of her eye.

She couldn't understand what a little blonde barbarian would want to do with her, and the fact that she would even interrupt her work was rather irksome to say the least.

"Miss Oei! I thought you might be hungry so I brought you some snacks!" She heard from behind the door, after a light rapping on it. She didn't move to open it, nor did she bother to answer, and then she was too slow to stop Pops from letting Abigail enter.

"Oh, thank you, Mister Hokusai! Yes, of course I brought you something as well!" She heard Pops and the twerp interact, and then the sound of her little feet approaching her. She stood behind her, watching her work. Oei still didn't acknowledge her presence.

Then after a few minutes she could feel her concentration break. "Ok, kid, you did your thing, now git." Oei said while waving her hand dismissingly. She still didn't deign Abigail worthy of even turning around to address her.

"Oh! I thought..." Abigail paused. "Yes, of course, I'm sorry..." Oei heard the dejected child reply, then the door slide open and close. She returned to her work and then felt a wet tentacle slap the top of her head.

"Hey! What was that for?!" She angrily turned to her Pops, then his beady eyes somehow made her feel the disapproval. "I'm working over here, you want me to stop to entertain some barbarian kid?" She justified herself. The tiny octopus being she called her Father simply crossed his tentacles in a way that showed contempt, then slapped her again, this time with less strength. "I didn't ask her to do it, I owe her nothing".

He floated away, picked his brush up and resumed his work as a reply.

Such kinds of interruptions, however, would repeat themselves despite her ascerbic attitude towards the child. Sometimes she'd just continue working and not even bother to talk to her when she could keep her focus. She'd only notice after she watched her Pops float around grabbing a blanket and draping it over the child, fast asleep.

Oei really couldn't understand why the twerp insisted so much to try and interact with her.

Then one day she finally dropped her brush in exasperation, sighed audibly and turned to her. Her irritation diminished for a second once she saw those huge blue eyes light up like shiny sapphires. She sighed, then remembered what she was gonna say.

"Kid, why do you insist on bothering me every single day? I'm busy here, can't you tell?" She crossed her arms, then saw how her Pops wasn't even involving himself. 'At least he's minding his own business this time.', she thought.

The little girl started, then fell silent immediately. She fidgeted for a second, looking at the mollusk Oei called father, as if searching for an answer, then back at Oei. "I just, I wanted to talk to you for a bit, you see. You're the first servant of the same class as I, and a girl too. So I thought maybe..."

"That you could relate to me?" Oei guessed out loud, and Abigail's eyes lit up again. "Don't bother, we're not even from the same country and frankly I don't have time for you, as you should have realized by now." She callously shot down the child's hopes.

"But I..." Abigail tried again.

"No buts!" She interrupted her. "Just leave me be, I'm far too busy to be your babysitter. Go inconvenience the priest guy, he seems to get along with children." Oei finally sentenced.

Abigail's eyes seemed moist, yet she kept her composure. She lowered her head, got up slowly and left the room.

"Good riddance." Oei sighed, then picked her brush back up. And as she resumed painting, a blotch of ink splattered on her face, preventing her from seeing her Pops leave the room as well.

"What the hell, as if you were a stellar father yourself!" She yelled after the closing door.

She managed to work unimpended for a couple days and finally completed her work. And as she lifted the paper she evaluated the print.

It was disgustingly insipid.

A sigh escaped her lips as she crumpled the sheet between her hands and tossed it away.

Traversing the hallways of Chaldea Oei heard a little sigh which made her turn. Unnoticed, she saw Abigail sitting by herself, with her bear doll on her lap apparently talking to it.

Probably her only true friend in Chaldea.

"I wonder how I could make Miss Oei talk to me for a bit. No one else could understand the whispers of beyond. I really can't talk to anyone else about it."

Oei kept listening without bothering the little girl, and memories of her own little sister Onao came unbidden. She closed her eyes and leaned back on the wall separating the two, thinking back on how Onao was always lonely despite being around people yet she would tell Oei that by merely being around her the loneliness felt less so.

"The other girls are so kind to me, yet they can never truly understand. It's truly so, so..."

Another one of Abigail's sighs reached Oei, then she shook her head. She was being unnecesarily callous to a little girl who really didn't even try to interrupt her. She always sat there patiently, surely hoping that once Oei's work was done they could hang out for a bit.

She briskly walked to Abigail's side and sat beside her on the bench, to the young girl's surprise.

"Hey kid." She addressed her young companion. "You wanna try your hand at a bit of drawing? I got some time right now."

When Oei saw that big smile, she couldn't help but remember Onao.


End file.
